VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow has submitted a comment to the SEC on its proposed rule about proxy advisory firms. The comment is attached in full below. Some excerpts: My most important point: There is no justification for any regulation of proxy advisors beyond the rules already in place. The claims by issuers (and their fake,…
Category: proxy advisory firms
Agenda – Glass Lewis Raises the Bar on E+S Incentive Metrics
Proxy advisor Glass Lewis wants companies to offer more robust disclosure about their use of environmental and social incentive metrics, according to the firm’s 2022 proxy voting guidelines. While Glass Lewis won’t require the use of these metrics, it will consider them in say-on-pay analyses. Agenda – Glass Lewis Raises the Bar on E+S Incentive…
Sock Puppet Ike Brannon Continues to Lie About Proxy Advisors
As we have noted before, Ike Brannon likes to lie about proxy advisors while omitting any reference to his affiliation with the CEO-funded dark money efforts to limit investor access to the sole source of independent research on proxy issues. Note that his comments appear in the unedited commentary section of Forbes, barely above Qnon…
SEC.gov | SEC Proposes Rule Amendments to Proxy Rules Governing Proxy Voting Advice
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose amendments to its rules governing proxy voting advice. The proposed amendments aim to address concerns expressed by investors and others that the current rules may impede and impair the timeliness and independence of proxy voting advice and subject proxy voting advice businesses to undue litigation risks…
Agenda – ISS Sets ‘Minimum’ Bar for Boards on Climate in Proposed Policy Changes
It’s essential to remember that ISS is market-driven and these changes are a reflection of their response to client demand and not an indicator of their intention to lead on climate issues. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services today published its annual list of proposed policy changes for the 2022 proxy season, and it includes…
NAM Sues SEC Over Suspension of Proxy Advisory Firm Rule
The NAM is filing suit against the SEC for refusing to enforce the rule without going through the official process to change or replace it, as required under the Administrative Procedure Act. Agencies cannot set aside regulations they happen to disagree with, and the NAM is contending that the SEC has acted unlawfully by effectively…
SEC Suspends Trump-Era Proxy Advisory Rule
From SEC Chair Gary Gensler [footnotes omitted, emphasis added]: In September 2019, the Commission issued an interpretation and guidance addressing the application of the proxy rules to proxy voting advice businesses. Last July, the Commission adopted amendments to Rules 14a-1(l), 14a-2(b), and 14a-9 concerning proxy voting advice. I am now directing the staff to consider…
SEC Announces Suspension of Controversial Proxy Advisory Rule: ISS Responds
Institutional Shareholder Services issued the following statement in light of today’s announcement by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman, Gary Gensler, regarding the application of the proxy rules to proxy voting advice: “We welcome the SEC’s announced decision to consider revisiting its proxy adviser rulemaking, which we believe was ill-conceived, inconsistent with the law, and…
Push to kneecap super proxy advisers
The influential advisory firm controlled by the $500 billion industry super fund sector would be kneecapped under a push by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to regulate the way institutional shareholders vote on how companies deal with environmental, social and governance issues. The proposed measures include forcing proxy advisers to give the companies they are reviewing a…
Proxy Advisory Firms Release First Reports on Latest Best Practices
For the first time, six of the world’s most influential shareholder voting research and analysis firms (better known as “proxy advisors”), which help institutional investors vote shares at stock-exchange-listed companies worldwide, have each publicly released reports showing how they comply with the latest industry Best Practice Principles. Proxy advisors have been a target of corporate…
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